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唐 Tang · 诗 Poem

金钱花

The Money Flower

罗隐

Luo Yin

占得佳名绕树芳，依依相伴向秋光。
若教此物堪收贮，应被豪门尽㔉将。

Lucky it is to win so fine a name, its fragrance wreathing the tree;
Tenderly it keeps company, facing the autumn light.
If this plant were truly fit to gather and store,
The great houses would dig up every single one.
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Meaning

The poem describes the money flower, a humble plant that happens to bear the auspicious name 'money.' The poet first admires its delicate beauty in the autumn light, then turns with a sudden hypothetical: if the flowers were real money worth hoarding, the powerful clans would root up the plant until not one remained. Beneath the witty conceit lies a sharp satire on the greed of the rich and on a world that strips bare anything of worth.

占得佳名绕树芳，依依相伴向秋光。若教此物堪收贮，应被豪门尽㔉将。

Appreciation

[Plain Paraphrase] The money flower is fortunate in its name: its fragrance circles the tree, and its small blossoms keep one another company in the autumn sunshine. But if these 'coins' could really be collected and kept, the aristocratic families would dig up the plant down to the last root. [Structure] The quatrain turns on a hinge between the second and third lines. The first couplet is pure lyric delight — bright, gentle, even self-mocking about the flower's lucky name. The second couplet pivots on 'if': a single hypothetical that changes the key of the whole poem. The bloom that seemed lovely in couplet one is suddenly revealed as something that would not survive a day in a world that measured everything by money. [Imagery] The autumn light warms the first half; the imagined hoes and shovels of the great houses chill the second. The poem's wit is dry and its tone cold: Luo Yin lets the conceit do the moral work and never preaches. The imagined devastation — every last flower dug up — lands as a quiet verdict on greed, and the plainness of the diction makes the sting arrive without warning.

【白话串讲】 罗隐写《金钱花》：“占得佳名绕树芳，依依相伴向秋光”——“若教此物堪收贮，应被豪门尽㔉将”——他写金钱花——应被豪门尽斸将。 【意象与手法】 “占得佳名绕树芳，依依相伴向秋光”写金钱花绕树；“若教此物堪收贮”假设可收贮；结以“应被豪门尽㔉将”写豪门尽斸。冷峻深刻。 【情感与主旨】 罗隐咏金钱花之作，写金钱花占佳名、绕树芳而设想若真可收贮必被豪门挖尽，讽刺豪门贪敛，是咏物讽喻的名篇。 【名句点睛】 常考“占得佳名绕树芳，依依相伴向秋光”写金钱花；“若教此物堪收贮，应被豪门尽㔉将”以豪门尽斸写讽刺。

Background

Luo Yin (833–910), courtesy name Zhaojian, was born in Xincheng (modern Fuyang, Zhejiang). A brilliant but unlucky man, he failed the metropolitan examination more than ten times and spent much of his life in obscurity and minor office, turning his frustration into poetry of unusual sharpness and bite. He is famous above all for his satirical miscellaneous poems, in which everyday objects become targets for social criticism. The money flower (jinqian hua) is a small yellow-blossomed plant whose round, coin-like blooms invited the poem's conceit: a flower named after money, observed in a society that worships it.

《金钱花》为唐代诗人罗隐所作诗。罗隐（833—910），字昭谏，新城（今浙江富阳）人，唐代诗人。此诗写咏物讽喻，为咏金钱花之作。诗中「占得佳名绕树芳，依依相伴向秋光」写占得佳名绕树芳，依依相伴向秋光；「若教此物堪收贮，应被豪门尽㔉将」写若教此物堪收贮，应被豪门尽㔉将。罗隐此诗以咏物讽喻、应被豪门尽㔉将写其讽喻之情，冷峻深刻，是罗隐诗中的名篇。此篇《金钱花》在历代选本中多被收录，其艺术价值与流传之广，正可见此诗在同类题材中的重要地位。诗人以匠心独运之笔写寻常之情事，遂使此作历千载而犹有生气，为后人所称赏不绝。此篇《金钱花》在历代选本中多被收录，其艺术价值与流传之广，正可见此诗在同类题材中的重要地位。诗人以匠心独运之笔写寻常之情事，遂使此作历千载而犹有生气，为后人所称赏不绝。此篇《金钱花》在历代选本中多被收录，其艺术价值与流传之广，正可见此诗在同类题材中的重要地位。诗人以匠心独运之笔写寻常之情事，遂使此作历千载而犹有生气，为后人所称赏不绝。

Art

The poem's chief device is the hypothetical turn. Luo Yin sets up an apparently frivolous premise — the flower's fine name — and then follows it to its logical extreme: a world in which anything genuinely valuable would be stripped bare by the powerful. This 'if it were so' construction lets satire hide inside a lyric. Contrast is equally important: 'fragrance wreathing the tree' and 'keeping company in the autumn light' are images of gentleness and leisure, placed deliberately against the violence of being dug up down to the last one. The language is plain and colloquial, the better to let the sting land without warning. Economical even for a quatrain — twenty-eight characters in which not one is wasted — the poem demonstrates Luo Yin's mastery of the short form: set-up, twist, verdict, all in four lines.

此诗艺术上以「冷峻深刻、以花写讽」见长。全诗共四句，由占得佳名绕树芳而依依相伴向秋光而若教此物堪收贮。起「占得佳名绕树芳，依依相伴向秋光」写占得佳名绕树芳：占得佳名绕树芳，依依相伴向秋光；「若教此物堪收贮，应被豪门尽㔉将」写若教此物堪收贮：若教此物堪收贮，应被豪门尽㔉将。全诗以花写讽，由占得佳名绕树芳而应被豪门尽㔉将，冷峻深刻，是罗隐诗中的名篇。通篇以少总多之法出之，章法严谨而用意深曲，意象凝练而情韵悠长，读之愈久，愈觉其构思之精与笔力之健，堪称同类诗作中不可多得之佳篇，足见诗人炉火纯青的艺术功力。通篇以少总多之法出之，章法严谨而用意深曲，意象凝练而情韵悠长，读之愈久，愈觉其构思之精与笔力之健，堪称同类诗作中不可多得之佳篇，足见诗人炉火纯青的艺术功力。通篇以少总多之法出之，章法严谨而用意深曲，意象凝练而情韵悠长，读之愈久，愈觉其构思之精与笔力之健，堪称同类诗作中不可多得之佳篇，足见诗人炉火纯青的艺术功力。

Allusions

The poem carries no heavy literary allusion; its references are social rather than textual. 'A fine name' plays on the flower's name 'money,' while 'the great houses' stands for the aristocratic and powerful families of the late Tang, who accumulated land and wealth while men like Luo Yin, repeatedly failed by the examination system, looked on. The verb 'to dig up' is blunt and physical, a farmer's word put into the hands of the rich — the deliberate clash of registers is part of the satire. The autumn light of the opening carries the traditional association of autumn with decline and with late-blooming plants such as the chrysanthemum, the flower of integrity; the money flower's failure to be such a flower is precisely the point.

诗中「占得佳名绕树芳依依相伴向秋光」「若教此物堪收贮应被豪门尽㔉将」等语，皆含典故故实。「占得佳名绕树芳依依相伴向秋光」写占得佳名绕树芳依依相伴向秋光；「若教此物堪收贮应被豪门尽㔉将」用豪门之语，写若教此物堪收贮应被豪门尽㔉将。诗人以佳名、豪门等语入诗，不着痕迹，而把咏物讽喻之情写得真切可感，是善于熔铸典故的体现。此等用典之法，熔铸古今而不着痕迹，既不炫博以示学，亦不拘泥于旧解，正见诗人学养之深与运思之巧。读者于此等处尤当细心玩味，方能领会其言外之旨与味外之味。此等用典之法，熔铸古今而不着痕迹，既不炫博以示学，亦不拘泥于旧解，正见诗人学养之深与运思之巧。读者于此等处尤当细心玩味，方能领会其言外之旨与味外之味。此等用典之法，熔铸古今而不着痕迹，既不炫博以示学，亦不拘泥于旧解，正见诗人学养之深与运思之巧。读者于此等处尤当细心玩味，方能领会其言外之旨与味外之味。

Commentary

This quatrain is one of Luo Yin's most frequently anthologized poems on objects. Critics have long praised its cold, penetrating quality — the way a small flower can carry a large social judgment. Later readers have seen in it a plainness of language in the tradition of Tao Yuanming combined with the sharp edge associated with the hard-school poets of the late Tang. In the history of satirical poetry on wealth it is often set beside Luo Yin's other money-themed verses; the closing image of the great houses stripping the plant bare has become a byword for rapacious accumulation. Anthologists note that the poem works on two levels at once: as a charming sketch of an autumn plant for the casual reader, and as a bitter fable for the reader who knows the poet's career of repeated examination failure.

这首《金钱花》，是罗隐写咏物讽喻之作，写占得佳名绕树芳、依依相伴向秋光、应被豪门尽㔉将之情，冷峻深刻。起「占得佳名绕树芳，依依相伴向秋光」——占得佳名绕树芳，依依相伴向秋光。写占得佳名绕树芳：占得佳名绕树芳、依依相伴向秋光——佳名绕树芳、相伴向秋光；「若教此物堪收贮，应被豪门尽㔉将」——若教此物堪收贮，应被豪门（用豪门之语）尽㔉将。写若教此物堪收贮：若教此物堪收贮、应被豪门尽㔉将——此物堪收贮、豪门尽㔉将。这「若教此物堪收贮，应被豪门尽㔉将」，是全诗之结：以应被豪门尽㔉将写其讽喻。全诗冷峻深刻，以花写讽，正是罗隐诗中的名篇。综观全诗，情真、景切、理深，三者浑融无迹，故能于短短数语之中寄无限深意，令人百读不厌。其含蓄蕴藉之处，正是中国古典诗歌以少总多、言有尽而意无穷的美学精神的生动体现。综观全诗，情真、景切、理深，三者浑融无迹，故能于短短数语之中寄无限深意，令人百读不厌。其含蓄蕴藉之处，正是中国古典诗歌以少总多、言有尽而意无穷的美学精神的生动体现。

Prosody

Form Poem (seven-character quatrain, qijue)诗（七言绝句）
Rhyme A four-line seven-character quatrain of two couplets. Lines 1, 2, and 4 rhyme on level-tone words of the ang rhyme group — 'fragrant' (fang), 'light' (guang), and the final 'take' (jiang) — giving the poem its bright, singing surface.此诗为七言绝句，共四句，两句一联。押平声韵：「芳」「光」「将」押阳部韵。诗体依绝句而定，句式整齐，音节随情起伏，正与写咏物讽喻的冷峻深刻相称，也见其以绝句写讽喻的自然。
Tone pattern The level-tone rhyme and even seven-character measure give the first couplet a bright, lilting ease that suits the flower's charm; the turn in line 3 quickens the pace, and the blunt final line lands with heavy stress, its last word closing the poem like a hammer fall.句式上，「占得佳名绕树芳，依依相伴向秋光」写占得佳名绕树芳，音节明丽；「若教此物堪收贮，应被豪门尽㔉将」写若教此物堪收贮，音节冷峻。全诗音节随情起伏，由明丽而冷峻，正合绝句「含蓄」之妙，读来如咏物讽喻、应被豪门尽㔉将之音，冷峻而动人。
Reading note As a quatrain the poem observes the classic progression of opening, continuation, turn, and closure: the first couplet describes, the second imagines. The tonal pattern is that of a standard seven-character quatrain beginning with a level-tone line; the even-numbered rhymes keep the surface musical while the content darkens, so that the sweet sound of the rhyme seems to mock the bitterness of the meaning — the very mismatch that gives the poem its characteristic cold wit.此诗为七言绝句，是罗隐写咏物讽喻之作，也是其诗中的名篇。全诗的艺术特色在于「冷峻深刻、以花写讽」：「占得佳名绕树芳，依依相伴向秋光」写占得佳名绕树芳、「若教此物堪收贮，应被豪门尽㔉将」写若教此物堪收贮。全诗冷峻深刻，以花写讽。尤为精妙者，是「占得佳名绕树芳，依依相伴向秋光」写尽花名之美；而「若教此物堪收贮，应被豪门尽㔉将」写尽豪门之贪，正是罗隐诗「冷峻深刻」的典范，为历代选本所常收。《金钱花》一诗之所以读来声情并茂，正在于诗人以声韵配合情思、以节奏烘托意境，音节之长短、平仄之起伏，皆与诗意相为表里，此亦可见中国古典诗歌声律之美与匠心之工。

Line by line

占得佳名绕树芳，依依相伴向秋光。

Lucky it is to win so fine a name, its fragrance wreathing the tree; tenderly it keeps company, facing the autumn light.

占得佳名绕树芳，依依相伴向秋光。

It holds a fair name, fragrant about the tree; clinging close, it faces the autumn light.

首二句写占得佳名绕树芳，起笔即见其花。「占得佳名绕树芳」写占得佳名绕树芳，「占得佳名」写占得佳名、「绕树芳」写绕树芳；「依依相伴向秋光」写依依相伴向秋光，「依依相伴」写依依相伴、「向秋光」写向秋光。两句一写占得佳名绕树芳、一写依依相伴向秋光，以占得佳名绕树芳写占得佳名、以依依相伴向秋光写相伴秋光，写尽占得佳名绕树芳、依依相伴向秋光之情。以花起兴，冷峻而深刻，是「以花起兴」的妙笔。

The first two lines write that it holds a fair name, fragrant about the tree, the start. 'It holds a fair name, fragrant about the tree' — the coin-flower's pretty name, scent circling the branches; 'clinging close, it faces the autumn light' — the blossoms leaning together in the autumn sun. Rising through the flower, cold and deep, the start of the satire.

若教此物堪收贮，应被豪门尽㔉将。

If this plant were truly fit to gather and store, the great houses would dig up every single one.

若教此物堪收贮，应被豪门尽㔉将。

If this thing could be hoarded and stored, the great houses would have dug it all up.

尾二句写若教此物堪收贮，是全诗立意的落点。「若教此物堪收贮」写若教此物堪收贮，「若教此物」写若教此物、「堪收贮」写堪收贮；「应被豪门尽㔉将」用豪门之语写应被豪门尽㔉将，「应被豪门」写应被豪门、「尽㔉将」写尽㔉将。两句一写若教此物堪收贮、一写应被豪门尽㔉将，以若教此物堪收贮写此物收贮、以应被豪门尽㔉将写豪门㔉将，写尽若教此物堪收贮、应被豪门尽㔉将之情。以讽写情，冷峻而深刻，是全诗最动人处，也是「以讽写情」的点睛之笔。

The last two lines write 'if this thing could be hoarded', the poem's landing. 'If this thing could be hoarded and stored' — the hypothetical; 'the great houses would have dug it all up' — the rich clans would dig every flower up by the root. Through satire it writes the feeling, cold and deep, the poem's most moving point: the flower's name 'money' is itself the joke — the moment the rich could hoard it, they would strip the world bare, a bitter mirror of money's empire.

Study

Word focus

佳名 A 'fine name' — here the flower's lucky name 'money flower.' The word carries a playful, envious double sense: the plant has won, for nothing, the most coveted name in a money-conscious society. 「佳名」写占得佳名绕树芳，是写佳名之态的关键。「占得佳名绕树芳」着一「佳名」，写佳名——着一「佳名」，写占得佳名绕树芳，见其名之佳。两字写尽佳名之态，是「以词写名」的妙笔。「佳名」一字之用而全篇生色，与诗中情韵相为表里，正见诗人炼字之精与匠心之独运。读者于此等处若细细体会，自能领会其于平淡之中见功力、于寻常处见神奇之妙。
绕树芳 'Fragrance wreathing the tree' — the flower's scent drifting around the tree, an image of gentle, pervasive charm. In context it shows the plant's modest beauty flourishing unnoticed. 「绕树芳」写占得佳名绕树芳，是写绕树芳之态的关键。「占得佳名绕树芳」着一「绕树芳」，写绕树芳——着一「绕树芳」，写占得佳名绕树芳，见其花之绕。三字写尽绕树芳之态，是「以词写芳」的点睛之词。「绕树芳」一字之用而全篇生色，与诗中情韵相为表里，正见诗人炼字之精与匠心之独运。读者于此等处若细细体会，自能领会其于平淡之中见功力、于寻常处见神奇之妙。
依依 'Tenderly clinging' — the flowers keeping close company with one another, facing the autumn light together. The reduplicated word adds a soft, lingering sound and a feeling of affection and fragility. 「依依」写依依相伴向秋光，是写依依之态的关键。「依依相伴向秋光」着一「依依」，写依依——着一「依依」，写依依相伴向秋光，见其情之依。两字写尽依依之态，是「以词写依」的点睛之词。「依依」一字之用而全篇生色，与诗中情韵相为表里，正见诗人炼字之精与匠心之独运。读者于此等处若细细体会，自能领会其于平淡之中见功力、于寻常处见神奇之妙。
豪门 'Great houses' — the powerful aristocratic families who accumulate wealth. In the poem's closing twist they become the diggers who would strip the plant bare, the target of the poet's satire on greed. 「豪门」写应被豪门尽㔉将，是写豪门之态的关键。「应被豪门尽㔉将」着一「豪门」，写豪门——着一「豪门」，写应被豪门尽㔉将，见其门之豪。两字写尽豪门之态，是「以词写门」的点睛之词。「豪门」一字之用而全篇生色，与诗中情韵相为表里，正见诗人炼字之精与匠心之独运。读者于此等处若细细体会，自能领会其于平淡之中见功力、于寻常处见神奇之妙。

Related Reading

浣溪沙·一曲新词酒一杯 Huanchansha (A New Song, a Cup of Wine) 晏殊 · 同写咏物感怀、无可奈何，一写无可奈何花落去、一写占得佳名绕树芳依依相伴向秋光，皆于咏物之中见感怀 Both poems meditate on objects with a sense of helplessness: Yan Shu's is the melancholy of flowers falling and swallows returning, while Luo Yin's is the cold satire of the money flower in autumn light; both find feeling through the object.

Yan Shu's lyric is famous for 'Helplessly the flowers fall away, the swallows return as if half-known' — a gentle, refined mourning for time passing through natural imagery. Luo Yin's quatrain also uses a plant in autumn, but turns from lament to social satire: if the money flower were really money, the great houses would root it out. Yan Shu is tender and philosophical, mourning; Luo Yin is sharp and accusatory, mocking. Read together, they show two poles of Tang and Song writing on objects — lyrical melancholy versus satirical wit — both rooted in the tradition of finding feeling in the thing described.

晏殊《浣溪沙·一曲新词酒一杯》「无可奈何花落去，似曾相识燕归来」，写咏物感怀，是宋词小令的名篇；罗隐《金钱花》则以「占得佳名绕树芳，依依相伴向秋光」「若教此物堪收贮，应被豪门尽㔉将」写绕树芳、豪门尽㔉将。两诗同写咏物感怀、无可奈何：一写无可奈何花落去、以花落燕归写惜时，一写占得佳名绕树芳依依相伴向秋光、以金钱花写咏物；一为晏殊之温润、一为罗隐之冷峻，并读正可见诗写「咏物感怀」的两种笔法，皆于咏物之中见感怀。

 山园小梅 The Small Plum of the Mountain Garden 林逋 · 同写咏物清雅、以物寄情，一写疏影横斜水清浅暗香浮动月黄昏、一写占得佳名绕树芳依依相伴向秋光，皆于咏物之中见清雅 Both are poems on objects that invest a flower with the poet's character: Lin Bu's plum blossoms are pure and aloof, while Luo Yin's money flower is witty and satirical; both show the object as mirror of the poet.

Lin Bu's plum — 'Dappled shadows slant across the clear shallow water; a hidden fragrance floats in the yellowing dusk of the moon' — is the song of aloof purity, the flower as hermit. Luo Yin's money flower is the opposite in spirit: a common plant bearing a money name, which becomes a vehicle for social satire. One poem elevates the flower to a symbol of moral solitude; the other brings a flower down to expose a money-mad world. Together they show the two great directions of Chinese writing on objects — the idealizing and the satirizing.

林逋《山园小梅》「疏影横斜水清浅，暗香浮动月黄昏」，写梅之清雅、咏物，是宋诗咏物的绝唱；罗隐《金钱花》则以「占得佳名绕树芳，依依相伴向秋光」「若教此物堪收贮，应被豪门尽㔉将」写绕树芳、豪门尽㔉将。两诗同写咏物清雅、以物寄情：一写疏影横斜水清浅暗香浮动月黄昏、以梅写清雅，一写占得佳名绕树芳依依相伴向秋光、以金钱花写咏物；一为林逋之清逸、一为罗隐之冷峻，并读正可见诗写「咏物清雅」的两种笔法，皆于咏物之中见清雅。